15 Judgment will come on those who greeted people who weren’t like them as enemies.
16 But these people first gave feasts to welcome those who did right and shared with them the blessings of the land. But then they began to force the strangers to do hard labor.
17 Therefore, they were struck blind, just like those people who had gathered at the door of one who had also done what was right. A veil of darkness was cast around them, and each one of them groped for the entrance to his own gates.
18 If we are careful to observe events, we can see just how the elements of the universe are transformed. It’s the same transformation that happens when someone changes the sounds that a harp makes by changing the key while continuing to play the same melody.
19 In this way, land animals were changed into underwater creatures, while animals that swam in the waters now moved onto the land.
20 Fire was able to burn on the open water, while water forgot that it was supposed to put fire out.
21 Flames no longer burned the exposed flesh of living beings, who were able to walk through the flames. Flames didn’t even melt the frostlike crystals that were a kind of food of everlasting life.